Structural Power Technology Turns Car Doors into Batteries

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Using a special kind of carbon fiber, British and Swedish researchers have created “structural power technology” that turns bits of a car — doors, hoods, roofs — into batteries. Structurally, these carbon fiber parts are identical, except for one small detail: the resin used to bond the fibers is laced with lithium ions. These lithium ions allow the these car body panels to store electricity, like a large capacitor.

Dr. Emile Greenhalgh, an expert in composite materials and one of the researchers behind this new innovation, says “Although the energies they provide are fairly modest, they have shown that our material could be used to smooth the demands on the battery, thus enhancing its life.” With even the most advanced battery technologies plateauing at around 100 miles per charge, these ultra lightweight carbon fiber panels provide a new way of storing more power but without increasing the weight of the vehicle. It’s worth noting that these new power-storing panels don’t generate electricity, though — we’re not talking about a new technology that will replace alkaline batteries; we’re talking about a new material that can turn almost any object or tool into a power storage device.

While it’s still early days for the technology, Volvo says that structural power technology will be the key to the electric vehicles it is developing. Per-Ivar Sellergren, a Volvo Cars engineer, says that the Swedish car manufacturer is working on a prototype vehicle with a trunk floor that could be used to turn the engine on and off at traffic lights — but if future composite battery structures can be refined to store energy as efficiently as lithium-ion batteries, it could possible to power an entire car for 80 miles using roof, hood, and trunk carbon fiber batteries. Needless to say, as long as structural power technology can be produced cheaply, it could also be used in the creation of buildings, or toys. In a few years from now, we might be using mobile phones and laptops that no longer require a conventional battery.